God wants us to live unique, not uniformed.

Morning devotion heldt at the local planning meeting for the LWF Youth Pre Assembly

In Namibia all pupils have to wear school uniforms.

All are dressed in the same way, whether they like the idea of school uniforms or not. Such uniforms can show us two important things. First, they   somehow all belong together as pupils from that school. Second, they are all equal. No matter where you are from or how rich your parents are. They all have to wear the same thing, which shows others: We are equal. There is no one with better clothes

This reminds me of some words from the apostle Paul. He says in Galatians 3:27

All of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ as if he were your clothes. Now there is no Jew or Greek. There is no slave or free person. There is no male or female. Because you belong to Christ Jesus, you are all one.

So perhaps when we talk about the meeting of all the different Lutheran Churches from all over the world, shouldn’t we think about a uniform for all of them?

Because as children of God, we all belong together.

And as children of God, we are all equal. No one is better or worse than the other. God loves and treats everyone in the same way. No matter how rich we are, or how successful we are in life. For God we are all equal.

So should we all get the same uniform? No, we shouldn’t. Because there is one big misunderstanding. For God we are all equal, yes. But it does not mean that we all have to be a copy of others. It does not mean that God wants everyone behave in the same way. And it does not mean that every Christian has to live in the same way. It does not mean that all Lutheran Churches all over the world have to celebrate God’s glory in the same way or with the same style. No. God does not want uniformed Christians that all look and behave in the same way.

God loves it colorful. He does not just like blue and white. No. He also likes pink, green, purple, yellow, and red. He likes it wonderful and colorful like the beautiful creation, which is not for sale. He wants us to live unique. Not uniformed. Unique as the persons and churches we are. Colorful. Different from others.

Jesus gives us only three questions (Matthew 22) to determine if we are living our lives  as good Christians and if we are churches as he wants them to be.

First: Are we loving God with all of our heart, all of our soul and all of our mind?

Second: Are we loving our neighbors with the things we are doing? Do we serve them?

And third: Are we loving ourselves, respecting ourselves as God’s unique creation?

God is treating us all equally.

In his eyes there is no slave or free person. No male or female. We are all one. But not uniformed soldiers. He wants us to be colorful. To be different. To find out our own way of how to love God best. To find out our own way of how to love our neighbors best. And to find out our own way of how to love ourselves best.

God loves it colorful. Blue, white, pink, green, purple, yellow, red. We are called to live our lives as unique colorful Christians, but  also to stand together as one. That’s what The Lutheran World Federation is about. And we are part of it. Wonderful.

Amen.

by Diakon Jürgen Braun, representing the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN-GELC) in the local planning team.

More information about the LWF Youth Pre Assembly in Namibia